FOX NEWS A BIG WINNER IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Mitt Romney was the easy winner of the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, but so, too, was Fox News. The news channel, whose viewers are largely conservative and/or Republican, averaged 2.25 million during primetime Tuesday night, peaking in the 9:00 hour, as Romney claimed victory, with 2.73 million. Somewhat surprisingly, however, those represented similar numbers to Fox News’s regular nightly programming. CNN, by contrast, which drew half the number — 1.11 million viewers — as Fox, more than doubled its regular primetime audience nevertheless, while MSNBC was up 17 percent. Most people, however, were watching the regular broadcast networks on Tuesday night, with CBS’s NCIS drawing a mammoth audience of 21.03 million and NCIS: Los Angeles following with 16.60 million. The top-rated show on Wednesday was ABC’s Modern Family, with 12.3 million viewers. CBS’s coverage of the People’s Choice Awards appeared to cut into its ratings, however, as it drew an average of 8.88 million viewers.